They tangled on education funding, taxes, privatization of state services, gambling, guns and Medicare during the hour-long debate at WBIN-TV.

It's not as if the two have been avoiding each other in this campaign to succeed Gov. John Lynch, who is not seeking a fifth term. Monday evening's meeting was their fifth debate in 12 days, with at least five more scheduled before the Nov. 6 general election.

Lynch, a Democrat, is scheduled to endorse Hassan in Concord today.

Hassan, who lives in Exeter, is the former majority leader in the state Senate. She lost the post during the GOP sweep in the 2010 mid-term election that put Republicans in charge of both the House and Senate.

Lamontagne, a lawyer by trade, is familiar in the Granite State political landscape because of his past runs for governor, Congress and, most recently, for U.S. Senate in 2010.

Their differences became most evident on health care and, in particular, the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that allows states to opt out of the Medicare part of the Affordable Care Act.

Lamontagne, who opposes "Obamacare," wants to take the federal money (estimated at $1 billion) in the form of a block grant to build a high-risk pool with private insurers, a method, he said, that would create a "much better delivery system and contain costs." He said the high cost of health insurance is preventing businesses from expanding in the state.

Hassan replied, "There is no option from the federal government on the table to take that billion dollars and doing something different with it." She accused Lamontagne of "not being straight-forward," saying he would opt out of the federal contribution toward Medicare, a move she said is opposed by the state Council on Aging.

They also differed on education, specifically about the priorities for funding higher education at the state's colleges and universities.

Lamontagne noted that not all families can afford to send their children to a state college or university, and he proposed what he called a "learn-to-earn" program that would target scholarships to "leverage the needs of business and education and keep our workers here."

Hassan proposes to return funding cut from the state's universities and colleges — about $55 million — and freeze tuition.

"We're losing our young people because it's less expensive to go to school in other states," she said.

Asked where she would find the money to restore the funding, Hassan pointed to the folly of the GOP-controlled Legislature cutting the state's cigarette tax.

"They might as well have said to our young people, 'Smoke more, study less,'" she said.

The Exeter Democrat said the state could boost its revenues by taxing a "tightly-regulated" casino near the Massachusetts border.

The subject of casino development highlighted a sharp divide between the two candidates.

While they both support the notion of expanded gambling, they differed on where the casino should be located.

Lamontagne supports building a casino at Rockingham Park in Salem, which he cited as "the only part of our state that has a history of gaming." Lamontagne's law firm has represented the Rock, and that drew criticism from Hassan.

Hassan said she supports a casino near the Massachusetts border, but called for an open bidding process. Siting a casino at Rockingham Park, she said, "limits the state from getting the best deal possible," while describing Lamontagne as a lobbyist for the park.

"I'm not a lobbyist and I don't work on that account," replied Lamontagne, adding that the process of siting a casino there would be transparent.

Hassan was asked about her support of the so-called pledge against a sales or income tax for the state, while opposing the proposed constitutional amendment to permanently prohibit a broad-based income tax.

The Exeter Democrat said she would veto a sales or income tax if it came to her desk, but she doesn't want to constitutionally enshrine a tax ban because "we should amend our constitution only when we have to." She said the proposed constitutional amendment would recklessly bind future generations.

Lamontagne said he supports a constitutional tax ban "to assure future generations that this won't be a threat."

The debate, co-sponsored by Seacoast Media Group and featuring Executive Editor Howard Altschiller as one of the panelists, was held at the WBIN-TV studios in Derry. WBIN was created in 2011 by Rye businessman and former Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bill Binney after he purchased WZMY.